Cloe's Gift
by Aeon65
Summary: Cloe the cat brings Tim a gift.  Sequel to Eight Legged Menace.  Implied Slash


Title: Cloe's Gift

Author: Aeon Cole

Rating: G

Fandom: CSI Miami

Genre: Humor

Warning: Implied slash

Pairing: Horatio/Speed

Table: #3 comedy

Prompt: #5 humiliation

Summary: Cloe brings Tim a gift.

Disclaimer: The original character of Cloe the cat belongs to me, the others do not.

Author's Note: For Cloe's Diary, her thoughts on the events of this story and other things, visit my LiveJournal. Link from my profile page.

Tim stood in the laundry room at the back of the house folding clothes. Every so often he scanned the back yard looking for his little orange ball of fur. Now that she was three months old, the vet had told Tim that she could be let outside as long as he kept an eye on her. The first few times he let her out, he stayed out with her and when he noticed that she seemed to have no interest in leaving the yard, he started letting her go out by herself but he kept an eye on her from the house.

She liked to spend most of her time chasing butterflies and crickets and rolling in the grass. She'd even attempted to go after a chipmunk or two but they were too fast for her. He'd noticed lately that she'd been spending quite a lot of time out in one corner of the yard in particular and made a mental note to go see what it was that was so fascinating over there. He figured that it was probably a chipmunk hole.

He finished folding and knew that he needed to put the laundry away which meant going upstairs. He still wasn't comfortable leaving Cloe completely unattended outside so he went to the sliding glass door and called to her.

"Cloe," he called. The little cat's head sprung up from the grass. "Come on girl, time to come in."

He left the sliding glass door open just enough for her to get through and went back into the laundry room. He knew she would come when called. What he didn't notice was Cloe digging around in the corner of the yard for a moment before she came trotting back into the house.

Tim was standing in front of the washing machine setting the dials for the next load when he felt something rubbing up against his leg. He smile and said, "Good girl, Cloe." Cloe meowed at him but her call sounded muffled and that immediately got Tim's attention.

He looked down and noticed that she had something in her mouth. "What have you got, Cloe?" he asked. She meowed again and this time dropped a large, black spider at Tim's feet.

Tim didn't like spiders. In fact he was terrified of spiders. He reacted immediately by yelping and hopping up on the washer. If it had been a smaller spider he would have just stepped on it. But this one was too big. The bug began moving and Tim began yelling at Cloe to "get it the fuck out of here." It was totally irrational because the cat couldn't understand him. She just started batting the critter around the floor.

From the kitchen Horatio heard the commotion and came running, thinking that Tim had hurt himself. When he got to the laundry room he found Tim up on the washing machine and Cloe playing with something on the floor. "What is it? What's wrong?" he asked hurriedly.

Tim almost couldn't speak. He pointed to the cat. "She brought that thing in the house," he finally managed to say.

Horatio took a close look at Cloe and saw the spider. He let out a breath and chuckled. He was relieved that it wasn't anything more serious than a bug. He found a small plastic tub and turned it over on top of the spider, trapping it.

He looked up at Tim. "Okay, I got it," he said. Tim unfolded his legs. A bit embarrassed he began to climb down when Cloe started pawing the tub and moving it around. Tim pulled his legs up again.

Horatio bent down and shooed Cloe away. "No," he said firmly. "That's not a toy." The cat backed off. Horatio shook his head and chuckled again. "Of all the things…" he started to say but was cut off sharply by Tim.

"It's not funny, Horatio," he said suddenly and stalked out of the room.

Horatio turned toward the door. "Tim, wait."

As he went to follow he realized he was leaving the spider on the floor. He let out a breath and turned back. He found a thin piece of cardboard and slipped it under the tub. He lifted the whole thing and deposited the insect outside. When he came back in he scooped up Cloe and held her up to his face.

He said, "Cloe, we don't bring those things inside, understand. Daddy's afraid of them." The little cat meowed and squirmed in his hands. "No more spiders," he said finally and placed her back on the floor.

He found Tim in the living room. He was standing by the window with his arms wrapped tightly around himself. Horatio approached slowly, not wanting to startle him. He placed a hand on Tim's shoulder but Tim pulled away. "Don't touch me," he said in a sulking tone.

Horatio pulled his hand away momentarily. "Tim," he said softly. "I'm sorry. I wasn't laughing at you."

Tim was still sulking. "You could've fooled me," he said, clearly still upset.

Horatio sighed. "Look, I know you're afraid of spiders."

"Just the big ones," Tim interrupted, trying to save a little of his dignity. He hated that he had this phobia but hadn't found a way to overcome it yet.

Horatio placed his hand on Tim's shoulder again. The younger man tensed but didn't pull away. "I wasn't laughing at you. I promise." Tim turned to face him but kept his arms wrapped protectively around his chest. "You want to sit down for a minute?" Horatio asked.

Tim was still brooding but he nodded and let Horatio lead him over to the sofa. They sat next to each other in silence for a moment. "You feeling any better?" Horatio asked. Tim shrugged. His skin had stopped crawling so he supposed he was feeling better. He unwrapped his arms and Horatio reached for his hand. Tim allowed him to take it.

Horatio gave his had a squeeze. "I'm really sorry," he said. "I was laughing at Cloe, not you." Tim gave him a quizzical look. Horatio answered it, "Of all of the things she could have brought in from the yard, she had to choose a big-ass spider."

This statement drew a snort of laughter form Tim. Horatio smiled. "She probably thought she was bringing you a present. A tasty snack," he suggested. "Like a little land crab," he added as an afterthought.

Tim shuddered. "That's sick," he said shaking his head.

"Sorry." Horatio smirked. He pulled at Tim's hand. "Let me make it up to you," he said as he pulled Tim into his arms.

Fin


End file.
